A researcher at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University has received a $573,750 federal grant to study how thyroid dysfunction affects cardiovascular health.

Research Focus

The National Institutes of Health awarded the R15 grant to Vishwa Rajagopalan, Ph.D., an associate professor of biomedical and anatomical sciences at NYITCOM at A-State. The funding will allow Rajagopalan to expand his cardiovascular research program and investigate how thyroid hormones affect heart health.

The project will focus on noncoding RNAs, molecules that help regulate biological processes but do not produce proteins. “Thyroid dysfunction is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and, in some patient populations, a higher rate of deaths,” Rajagopalan said.

Rajagopalan conducts his research at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute on the A-State campus in Jonesboro. Medical students from NYITCOM and biological sciences and engineering students from A-State will have opportunities to participate in the project.

Original reporting: NEA Report (Jonesboro) — read the source article.